Fluorescent lamps are widely used in many lighting applications. In the manufacture of a fluorescent lamp, a phosphor coating is often required to be placed on the interior surface of the lamp. Generally, fluorescent lamps are made from straight glass tubes. The interior surface of the glass tube is often easily coated by placing within the glass tube a liquid phosphor material and tilting or rotating the glass tube. Other coating techniques have also been used. For example, one end of the tube may also be immersed in a quantity of liquid phosphor and a vacuum used to draw the liquid phosphor up the interior of the tube, and then removing the vacuum causing the liquid phosphor to drain out of the tube leaving a coating on the interior surface of the glass tube. Reflective coatings are also often used.
However, there are many lamps used for special applications, which require unique or unusual configurations. One such lamp is a serpentine lamp used in illuminating planar surfaces with substantially even illumination. It is often difficult to coat the serpentine fluorescent lamp with a reflective coating or phosphor material due to the numerous curves or bends. Therefore, there is a need for an improved device and method for the coating of the interior surface of the serpentine lamp with reflective coating or a phosphor material.